Slater's OO Wagon Kits - A Photographic Build Record

[leavesontheline]

Yes, Sasquatch, I realised this about the corner plates and did my best to smooth out these corners slightly more than the other end. Hopefully this will come across in my next post (later on). Also to yours and Jonathan's comment on the brake blocks, this was something I found during one of the dry runs, so I tried to account for this in the positioning of the solebars, then still had to remove some material from the brake block at one end! You'd never notice looking at it now! Hopefully i'll remember to cover this in the next installment .....

[buffalo]

 

...One question with this model - I assume the "maltsters" typo was carried across from the real thing - anyone know?...

 

Yes, the original did really say "Malsters". It appears in a Gloucester RCW builder's photo of March 1893. I don't know how many were built with this error, but the one in the photo is no 10. The number is missing from the kit and should be beneath the 'TER' of Warminster.. Another wagon, no 15 was built by the same company in January 1903 with a different layout of the lettering and no errors, so I doubt whether many carried the error.

 

Nick

[leavesontheline]

So, the next step was to get the glue out and start building. I looked at various different glues and read various opinions on the 'best' for a kit such at this and to be honest was a bit bamboozled by the choices! In the end I went with Humbrol Precision Poly Cement with a fine metal nozzle, just because it was easily available in my local model shop and I also used Humbrol Liquid Poly a couple of times as it runs into small gaps so easily and I already had some.

 

I decided I needed something nice and square to build the end panels to the side panels. I selected this sequence rather than fitting the ends and sides straight to the floor panel as suggested by some simply because a. it is what the instructions suggested and b. it seemed like the most likely method of getting everything square, unless you have some fancy jig, which I don't! I searched high and low around the house, in the garage, etc etc for something just the right size and shape to act as a nice square block around which to build the ends to the sides, but it couldn't interfere with the glue in the internal corners, or externally for that matter. Then I had a brainwave - something small, modular and manufactured to good enough tolerances to ensure decent squareness - yep, Lego! Thus I made my little block as shown below, with a couple of elastic bands, to hold the first end-side panel combination. Obviously I played around with this setup for some time without any glue, just to ensure I could adequately align the panels and keep them on the same plane. The next two photos show this 'playing around', before any glue was applied:

 

Following application of glue to both surfaces and careful mating of the chamfers I wiped off any excess glue from the external corners while it was still wet. This wasn't too much of a problem though because I was careful not to apply too much in the first place. As the glue melts the plastic locally the last thing I wanted was a mess on the external corners. Once the glue had set enough for the two parts to be removed from my Lego 'jig' (i.e. minutes rather than hours) I set the two parts onto my granite block to check for squareness. I had done this 'by eye' whilst mating the two glued parts but just wanted to double check all was still okay. It would have been much easier to reset the join at this stage, rather than with fully hardened glue. All was fine so I set about doing the opposite two panels, and ended up with this - all good so far!:

 

These sub assemblies were left to set properly for 24 hours. The next evening more playing around with my newly assembled side and end panels ensued and I tried to gauge what the fit with the floor panel would be like but it was a bit difficult to assess at this stage. The Lego 'jig' was used again to mate the two sub assemblies together, one join at a time. I used the Liquid Poly glue for the first time here after wiping the excess Poly Cement from each internal corner I just ran a small amount of Liquid Poly into each corner which just smoothed out the join slightly with a small fillet:

 

With all four corners glued together, I again left it for 24 hours for the glue to fully harden as I was concerned that the next step - sliding the floor panel in - could potentially overstress these joins. I was also concerned at this stage by how much the wagon body side panels bowed - possibly due to the corner chamfers not being exactly 45 degrees. These panels seemed quite a bit finer and thinner than similar RTR wagons, which themselves often exhibit this bowing. I needn't have worried myself with either of these concerns however, as once fully set, initial dry runs with the floor panel were successful. The panels did not come unglued and the bowing of the sides all but disappeared (the 'bowing' apparent below, and all of these photos, is just an optical effect of the camera lens).

 

During this dry run I noted that the underfloor beams running the length of the panel were a bit too tight on the back of the bufferbeam at one end. So using a fine file I removed a small amount of material from each beam end-face at one end. Again, due to the softness of the plastic, I over-did this a bit and removed slightly too much. This was not a problem in the end as the gap filled quite easily with glue, and later paint. I could have used some modelling filler at this stage if it had been too bad. Everything checked for squareness at this stage too - it still sat nice and flat on the granite surface:

 

Next step was to glue the floorpan in place. I decided that there would be little point in applying the Poly Cement to the longitudinal side interfaces. On the sides most of this glue would have just been wiped away as the panel was pushed into place whereas at the ends the glue would be pushed into the return above the back of the buffer beam, which provides a ledge for the floor panel. So I glued this upward facing ledge at each end and the corresponding downward facing edge of the floor panel and pushed it carefully home. With the glue still wet I immediately checked for squareness of the body and floorplan assembly directly on the granite slab and being happy with this I ran a small amount of liquid poly along the longtudinal interfaces both from inside the wagon and underneath the wagon:

 

I also ran a fillet of Poly Cement around the end panel joins, only underneath the wagon, also to try and fill the gaps between the longitudinal beams and the back of the buffer beam at one end. This can be seen in the next photo. Once the floor panel glue had fully set I fitted the brake gear bracket and the ballast weight. I used regular cyanocacrylate super-glue to fix the metal weight in place, after I had deburred the weight and obviously checked for acceptable fit during a dry run! As seen in the following photos I applied way too much glue to the floor panel and the base of the brake gear bracketry. Luckily none of this would be seen once painted and on the track! I also used the super-glue to fit the Romford bearings into the axle boxes.

 

Next, during another dry run assembly, this time with the solebars and wheels, I was able to run my wagon on the track for the first time! I'll save that momentous (!) event for the next post! ....

[leavesontheline]

Yes, the original did really say "Malsters". It appears in a Gloucester RCW builder's photo of March 1893. I don't know how many were built with this error, but the one in the photo is no 10. The number is missing from the kit and should be beneath the 'TER' of Warminster.. Another wagon, no 15 was built by the same company in January 1903 with a different layout of the lettering and no errors, so I doubt whether many carried the error.

 

Nick

 

Thanks for clarifying that Nick! I thought (hoped) that was probably the case!

[leavesontheline]

Continuing with the build, with the brake gear fitted, next step was a dry run assembly with solebars and wheels fitted. At this point the proximity of one of the brake blocks to the wheel was noted. Even with the solebars pushed as far as possible in the opposite direction, the wheel still rubbed slightly on the brake block. The wagon still ran okay up and down a short length of track, even with elastic bands holding it together, but I needed to remove some material from the relevant brake block. What little clearance there was would be reduced further during painting. The brake assembly and brake blocks are a really nice fit between the wheels which further enhances the overall look of the completed model compared to a similar RTR wagon with its huge clearances! First photo below shows the 'before' brake block modification and the second one 'after' (I think! .... I didn't remove much!). To remove the neccessary material I just used a very small piece of wet and dry, curved into a suitable shape to match the block curvature.

 

Before fitting the solebars I also removed the redundant brake lever bracket from the 'non-brake' side. This was done with a fine craft knife and finished with wet and dry. The following photo shows this process half finished.

 

After more than enough playing around it was time to glue the solebars. I decided to rely on eye-sight to set the squareness with the floor panel which seems to have worked out okay. I used plenty of Poly Cement at these interfaces as all joins would be fairly well hidden, the external join being hidden by the small lip where the side panels drop lower than the floor. Using plenty of glue also allowed for a bit longer in the adjustment phase, to ensure that the solebars and axle boxes sat at 90 degrees to the floor and parallel to each other and the brake assembly. I ensured that the solebars were both pushed as far as possible in the direction required to maximise the clearance with the close fitting brake block. Fillets of Poly Cement were applied to internal hidden corners 'just to be sure' whilst the base glue was still wet.

 

Next step was to fit the NEM coupling mounting blocks, or 'chairs' (they look like small chairs to me! - here shown upside-down!) and the brake lever.

 

I knew from early dry runs that I would have to remove some material from the bottom of these chairs to get the coupling at the correct height. I didn't have a dedicated coupling height tool, just a few RTR wagons of a similar size and type to act as a guide. These wagons also told me roughly how far the NEM pocket and the coupling should protrude beyond the buffer beam. After first waiting overnight for the solebar glue to fully harden I gingerly prized the axle boxes apart in order to fit the wheel/axle at both ends. Phew, the glue held, the axle box brackets clearly have just enough flexibility. Of course at this point I had to check running qualities on the track! Playtime for a few seconds! Squareness on the track and on the granite slab checked again and all still fine. No wobbles or rocking whilst running whatsover - unlike many RTR wagons! I must say that although these Hornby wheels are a bit shinier and not quite as fine to look at as the open spoked Bachmann versions I also have, they do seem to be more 'round' and always seem to run better. I have replaced many Bachmann RTR wagon wheels (steam era and modern image) on wobbly wagons with Hornby wheelsets with 100% success every time.

With the wheels fitted I could start to gauge exactly where the coupling chairs could be fitted and this revealed that in order to get the coupling overhang from the buffer beam at the right distance the chair and indeed the 'dovetail' end of the NEM coupling would have to fit just under the centre line of the axle. To achieve this I had to remove a bit more material from the chairs than originally expected, not only removing the 'legs' of the chairs but also reducing the thickness of the chair base. This was easily done by rubbing the chair on a fairly coarse file, the plastic for these parts being somewhat harder than the wagon kit. The second of these photos shows the fully modifed chair on the left and the unmolested one on the right.

 

The resulting position of the coupling is correct (based purely on the RTR examples I had on my workbench at the time of course!) and an unexpected benefit is that I can still remove the coupling and NEM pocket entirely from the model, without having to remove the wheels. Useful for display purposes I guess, with the chairs (mounting blocks) being almost invisible, hidden up behind and above the wheels. Quite neat really. I was really pleased with this bit of fettling! To get the best clearance with the axle I also turned the NEM pockets through 180 degrees in relation to the couplings (different to the 'as supplied' condition) which meant the chamfered face of the 'dovetail' part of the NEM pocket faced outwards rather than inwards towards the chair. I couldn't see that this would cause any other problems but it created more clearance with the axle. Second photo shows both chairs glued in place. I used Poly Cement again for this, after first checking that there wasn't some adverse reaction between this plastic and the glue by testing it on the sprue to which the chairs were orignally attached (before gluing anything I also did this using the sprue from the wagon kit parts just to make sure the Humbrol glue would be suitable).

 

Next step was to fit the metal buffers (really fine machined parts - nice) and buffer collars. I used super-glue again for this - just a tiny dab in the entry to the hole for the buffer shaft, but enough to squeeze out and glue the collar at the same time which I slid down the shaft after pushing the buffer firmly home.

 

.....and that was it on the assembly front (apart from the hinge assembly on the opening end of the wagon - attached later) with just painting left to do. Time to fit the couplings and have a few trial runs down the track. With the metal bearings there is obviously a little more noise than RTR wagons with their axle points sat in plastic pockets but running qualities are so much better with this model. With no elastic bands fitted (per the previous running trial!) and the axles sat correctly in the bearings the wagon is so smooth and free-running - very pleasing. Here shown with the couplings fitted:

 

.... and with the couplings and pockets removed showing how well hidden the 'chairs' are. Just need to get some scale chain link couplings to hang off the buffer beam coupling hooks (forgive my ignorance of all the correct terminology here - hopefully you know what I mean!) for static display purposes! Maybe that will be a future job alongside weathering/detailing?! Another item for future detailing, that I could have added at this point (maybe evident in the following photo?) is the axial bar that would link the bottom of the brake lever assembly, through the inner solebar bracket and through to the central pivot point of the brake rods themselves. Using two very small pieces of plastic - perhaps the broken (redundant) brake lever bracket from the other side - I could have modelled this bar which does seem to appear even on the relatively crude brake assemblies on RTR wagons. I decided to leave that unitl the next model (or future detailing of this model!) as I was keen to get on with the painting and felt that this bar would never be seen in normal running or even display circumstances. In fact it was only in looking at the massive originals of these photos, and the very cruel close-up that permits, that I realised this bar was not really a feature of the kit! Looking at these cruel close-ups also made me do a bit more fettling of the wagon body corner joints and of some of the underframe mouldings to remove tiny flashlines, before I embarked on any painting. The difference in the brake block thickness is a little more evident in this photo, the right hand one being thinner.

 

I've probably bored everyone enough for one day now so thats a good point to stop. Only a few more photos to go covering the painting process, which after all is relatively simple. More on that in the next post (tomorrow or whenever I next get the chance!)

Edited March 13, 2013 by leavesontheline

[Sasquatch]

Nice clean job!

[leavesontheline]

Thankyou Sasquatch!

[leavesontheline]

Right, final stage, painting - or whats left of painting as the side and end panels are obviously already painted/printed. Painting these partially finished Slaters kits is made easier by the fact they use Humbrol colours for the pre-painted parts so there should be a good chance of getting a reasonable match on the remaining parts. This particular kit used Humbrol Matt 33 black enamel. I could see from the finish on the end and side panels that they had been sprayed so initially I was very careful not to get any of my brushed Matt 33 onto the same surface/panel/plank as the sprayed parts in case due to batch differences or the method of application the colours did look obviously different. Initially I only painted separately picked out features or details adjacent to pre-painted parts, such as the corner braces around the non-opening end panel, as it would not be unresonable for these plates to have a different finish and colour. In the end, once the parts I had brush painted had fully dried, the difference in colour and even texture/finish was virtually imperceptible which contributed to the ease of finishing the model. This was also benefical as some of the prepainted parts had not recieved as much paint as other areas, e.g the sides of the vertical braces on the non-opening end. These were practically void of paint out of the box but once I had applied a couple of thin coats with a fine brush, you'd never know! 

 

I painted the whole of the underframe area. I know this will never be seen but it made me happier knowing it was done (OCD maybe?!). I used a size 2 brush for the larger expanses of under floor areas and then a size 000 for the majority of all other areas including the W irons and brake levers/brackets. I also used a tiny brush (size 5/0 ?) for some touching up and detailed work like the top edges of the wooden body panels where I wanted minimal paint.

 

I initially painted one coat over the entire underframe area. Once dried it was quite easy to distinguish the bits I had missed, being very pale grey in contrast to the black paint. Two coats were needed, but not just due to the opacity of the first coat. This particular pot of Matt 33 paint had potentially not been opened for a couple of years. I shook vigorously, opened the lid, stirred in the thick lump at the bottom, shook vigorously again and repeated this process a good few times, knowing that properly mixed paint was key to getting a good even finish with these matt enamels. Despite all this effort, this first coat was streaked with 'less matt' areas as seen in the following photo - note the paint is not wet in this shot! After this, my shaking/stirring process was even more thorough, often stopping part way through a painting process to re-shake! I also didn't wipe the excess paint on the brush onto the lip of the tin as I figured this could also affect the consistency near the top of the pot, choosing instead to wipe any excess onto a piece of kitchen towel.

 

Note that I had not yet glued the opening end door hinge assembly onto the inside of the door at this point. I left this until all painting of the underframe was completed as during drying I would rest the wagon upside-down which could have damaged this fine part. I found the wagon easy to hold whilst painting by using the buffers held between two or three fingers. None of them seem to have suffered during this process. I found that my lighting isn't really sufficient whilst painting this model. It is a not especially bright LED spot lamp (much brighter bulbs are easily available) so when trying to paint a second coat of matt black or touch up areas of matt black - it was a little tricky to see what I was doing at times. Of course the only bits I missed after the first coat were all bits that would actually be visible with the wagon on the track! Sods-Law! Where I got black paint onto the buffer shafts, this was easily scraped off with a fine tipped craft knife. The second coat of matt black came out much better and flatter!:

 

Whilst the underfloor was drying, I set about the first coat on the inside of the wagon, leaving the opening door end for the time being - until I had glued the hinge assembly in place. I spent quite a while 'googling' both the wwweb and RMweb to try and ascertain the most appropriate colour for the wagon interior. My existing RTR wagons didn't help greatly as these varied from black to deep chocolate brown, to pale brown, to light grey, to dark grey and many in-between. I believe that when new, most PO wagons like this would be left with unfinished wood internally, although through use the wooden panels would pick up the colour of the predominant load. As I was not planning to model this in weathered condition for the time being, and after seeing some very good examples of similarly finished wagons on RMweb, I opted to replicate a natural wood finish - or as close as I could get with my existing selection of Humbrol enamels! It also seemed to be the best base colour for any future weathering plans. The pale sandy colour that seemed best from the paints I already had was Humbrol 93 (matt finish, 'desert yellow') and I'm quite pleased with how it looks even though it might not be completely correct! This colour in the remaining few photos comes across with much more of a red/orange hue than it has in real life. It is fairly pale really.

 

Once I had finished all painting underneath, and this had fully dried, I kept the wagon upright and glued the hinge assembly into place onto the still unpainted door panel inner face. The very fine hinge/bar parts were another pre-painted part so I had to scrape this paint away where the glue (Poly Cement again) was to be applied. I also found it necessary to use a knife to clean up some flashlines on this part, removing further paint. With this in position and the glue hardened, I finished the painting of the interior with the matt 93. After the second coat of this had dried I realised I had a small patch of shiny (i.e. unmixed) paint slap bang in the middle of the floor. Had it been on the sides I would have just left it, or probably not even have noticed it! So coat number three was applied (these were very thin coats mind you!) with very thoroughly mixed paint, and thankfully it dried out evenly! The final process was to go around with the very fine brush and touch in any areas needing it - the hinge assembly, the top edges of the body sides and end panels and anywhere that had not received a good coat in the initial spraying by the manufacturers or where I had worn it away through handling on some of the sharper moulded details. And that was it - painting finished!

 

I then just fitted the wheels, without scraping the paint from the backs of the axle boxes in the process, and took the following photos of the finished item. No couplings fitted in these shots but it is easy to slip these in just under the outer edge of each axle.

 

Even now as I look at these cruel-close-up photos I can see minor faults but in reality I can then barely see these same faults with the naked eye! So it is fair to say that I am really happy with the finished product. It is quite a few years since I built any sort of plastic kit and I've really enjoyed getting back into this, and combining it with model railways! I feel like I'm cheating a bit because this was a partially painted model, with the complicated painting/printing on the sides already done for me but it was a nice easy model to put together for this reason and because it is a very well moulded and thought out model. The ideal kit therefore to ease me back into my old modelling skills! I have a handful of similar Slaters kits to build - all with painted/printed body sides and for now I don't think I'd change the assembly or painting process that I used above. There are obviously many different detail ways to finish these models and I'm certianly not saying the above process is the 'right' way but it worked for me. I considered all of the various comments on this thread and elsewhere on RMweb with very useful advice on how to build these and similar models but for this first attempt I decided just to stick to the most obvious method, and that suggested by the manufacturer. The next one I build will almost certainly still be painted after assembly. There was too much glue around during my build process which would have made a bit of a mess on top of the paint! So although it was a bit fiddly and a bit of a faff, I'll continue to brush paint the underfloor area after assembly for now. I do own an airbrush but I think on something this small, it would take as long to do just the masking, as it did to brush paint these small areas. Plus I'm a bit rusty with the airbrush and currently don't have a suitable area in which to use it.

 

So thats It from me (you'll be glad to hear!). I hope that someone else starting out with wagon kit-building might find some use with my ramblings. Having done this and got my modelling 'mojo' back, after building another few I might try my hand at weathering (I've still not dared to potentially ruin any of my expensive RTR roling stock/locos!) and then maybe even some more complex kits. I can certainly only aspire to some of the incredible kit and scratch-building I see every day on this forum!     

 

One final thought - what am I going to store it in? That question hasn't crossed my mind until now!

Edited March 15, 2013 by leavesontheline

[jukebox]

_{An excellent review/build.  Thanks very much for taking the effort to document and post this - I know how much it slows you down, and kills your momentum, having to take all those photos!}

 

_{Much appreciated.}

 

_Cheers

 

_Scott

[leavesontheline]

You can say that again! In fact taking the photos wasn't too bad but writing it all up and sorting all the photos into the right order has taken almost as long as it did to finish the kit!

 

Thanks for the comments!

[Sasquatch]

Loads are just as much fun. Cut a piece of wood to fit loosly  and stick a washer to it so that the load can be removed with a magnet. For coal I have a tube of black roofing glue which is spread over the top of the wood and washer then dipped into immatation coal etc. When doing more than one wagon label each piece of wood underneath.

I have a tub in which go all the odds and ends, this make great scrap loads. Some pics in my gallery. 

[Rail-Online]

Looks lovely and a welcome addition to your fleet. 

 

Just one point -you have missed putting the wagon number on the side. They came as seperate transfers with the Slaters kit allowing you to make up your own number. The number could have been in several positions but most likely would be positioned after the Tare weight 5-18-0 in the form No 3. Details of which script to use etc are with the transfers.

 

Tony

[Zero Gravitas]

Using lego as a square - that's an idea of genius!  Just off to raid my son's lego box....

 

Best Regards,

 

ZG.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...One question with this model - I assume the "maltsters" typo was carried across from the real thing - anyone know?...

 I don't, but bear in mind that standards in spelling were rather more flexible in an age when education often ended in the early teens and few folk had a dictionary to hand. The spelling of what is typically 'Bailey' is also to be noticed.

[leavesontheline]

Looks lovely and a welcome addition to your fleet. 

 

Just one point -you have missed putting the wagon number on the side. They came as seperate transfers with the Slaters kit allowing you to make up your own number. The number could have been in several positions but most likely would be positioned after the Tare weight 5-18-0 in the form No 3. Details of which script to use etc are with the transfers.

 

Tony

Thanks Tony - already noted by Nick (buffalo) in post #27. No transfers came with this kit and I've had a look at the other unbuilt Slaters kits I have and see no transfers. I have some slightly older ones, which like this one come in a small card box, and then I have a few newer purchases which now come in a bag and have the wheels and bearings included. Could it be another make you are thinking of? Anyway, I think when (one rainy day!) I have a go at detailing/weathering this model, I will obtain some suitable transfers and do as you suggest!

 

 I don't, but bear in mind that standards in spelling were rather more flexible in an age when education often ended in the early teens and few folk had a dictionary to hand. The spelling of what is typically 'Bailey' is also to be noticed.

Again thanks 34C - Nick (buffalo) clarified this in post #27. It seems that 'Malsters' is correctly copied from the prototype. As you suggest, not everyone was fully educated back then. It does seem though that E.Baily wasn't a typo, at least not on the prototype wagon as there was a company with this name according to a quick web search I did.

[buffalo]

..It does seem though that E.Baily wasn't a typo, at least not on the prototype wagon as there was a company with this name according to a quick web search I did.

Yes, their 1903 wagon also had the same spelling, with an added 'Ltd' after 'Son'.

 

Nick

[leavesontheline]

A bit late I'm afraid but I put the brakes on after fitting the wheels then at least I know the brakes and the wheels line up.

 

I've been thinking again about this..... Although above in my main post  I said I don't think I'll do much differently on the next one I build - your suggestion is something that I might give a go. Although I knew from the dry run assemblies that the brake blocks were going to be close, I didn't really know which direction they were going to be closest. When I fitted the brakes first (bottom of post #23) I removed approximately equal amounts of material from each end of the base of this part to fit it comfortably between the cross-members. Had I known there would be an issue with clearance with the wheels, I obviously could have removed material from the base of this part at one end only. Instead, I had to push the sole-bars as far as possible (we're talking fractions of a mm here!) in the opposite direction. Probably if I'd done it your way, I could have plonked the sole-bars somewhere in the middle, and then adjusted the base of the brakes in one direction or another as required.

 

I think I will try that on the next one - so your comment is not too late!!

 

Thanks for the tip.

Edited March 15, 2013 by leavesontheline

[george stein]

Very helpful article.  Would add one comment.  Having built several Slater's PO wagons, I find that the Parkside-Dundas NEM mounting block (PA 34) when used "as is" with the Hornby NEM pocket (X6354) and a Kadee # 18, it hits the Kadee height gauge exactly with no modifications required.  So, while the main article comments about changing the PA 34  may be appropriate if retaining the traditional UK hoop/hook couplers, if you wish to use Kadee couplers, don't change the PA34 mounting block.  Oh well, a second comment: painting the interior; use light grey enamel base, let dry, wash with brown acryl, let dry, then light wash with dirty black/brown/coal, etc.  Looks like dirty, faded wood.  Hope the Slater's re-issues continue to supply the end door handle.  The Slater's kits are/were really nice.

[BWsTrains]

Leavesontheline

 

Thx, most helpful topic for someone coming first time to a Slaters kit.

 

Mine is a MR 3 plank wagon which had these two mystery bits on the sprues carrying ends and sides. both the same just different sides shown. Have you any idea what they might be? I can't see them in your kit but thought you might have done more since your posts.

 

Regards,

 

Colin

Edited September 15, 2020 by BWsTrains

[Gilbert]

I think they are for mounting older  (Mainline/early Bachmann?) tension lock couplings.

[hmrspaul]

10 hours ago, Gilbert said:

I think they are for mounting older  (Mainline/early Bachmann?) tension lock couplings.

Triang/Hornby couplings... 

 

Paul

[Steamport Southport]

I've just been looking for information on these wagons as I've got one myself.

 

I found this which may be of interest. 

 

Agreement between GWR and Alfred Richard Bailey (maltster and miller, Frome, trading as E Bailey & Son) for siding at Frome Station; with subsequent agreements and correspondence [NOTE with plans]

 

Date:1891 Mar - 1967 Dec

 

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/3b77c4af-ae8b-4695-af7f-82865f0385fe